China abounds in hydropower resources. Due to precipitation and topographical features, these resources concentrate principally in the Southwest, Central South and Northwest Regions. In Eastern China (including East, North and Northeast Regions), hydropower potential is comparatively less and is mainly used for taking up the peakload of thermal-based electric system, while in western China, hydropower resources are so abundant that hydroelectricity forms the bulk of electric energy supply,...

China abounds in hydropower resources. Due to precipitation and topographical features, these resources concentrate principally in the Southwest, Central South and Northwest Regions. In Eastern China (including East, North and Northeast Regions), hydropower potential is comparatively less and is mainly used for taking up the peakload of thermal-based electric system, while in western China, hydropower resources are so abundant that hydroelectricity forms the bulk of electric energy supply, and the long distance transmission of electric power from the West to the East will play an important role in the near future.During the past 32 years, many hydropower projects have been accomplished in China. By the end of 1981, the total installed generating capacity of water power in China had been about 22 GW(the annual output of 1981 being 65 Twh), which is only 3％ of the exploitable potential. So, the prospect of hydroelectric power development in China is very brilliant.

The role of hydropower resources as compared with other major energy resources in China is evaluated with due consideration to the renewable capability of the hydro potential. Energy development and power development in the past three decades are reviewed. The relative economic merits of hydro versus thermal development are appraised. The regional distribution of hydro potential as well as the hydro energy exploited during the past three decades is compiled and their contributions to the regional...

The role of hydropower resources as compared with other major energy resources in China is evaluated with due consideration to the renewable capability of the hydro potential. Energy development and power development in the past three decades are reviewed. The relative economic merits of hydro versus thermal development are appraised. The regional distribution of hydro potential as well as the hydro energy exploited during the past three decades is compiled and their contributions to the regional energy development are analyzed. The role of the small hydro in China's rural energy supply is also assessed.

In this paper, based on the general goal of our economic construction in this century, the demand on energy resources, the relation between the development of energy resources and the saving of energy, and hydroelectric development scale are predicted preliminarily.